Fathers are part of a big equation

A month ago noted the 100th anniversary of Motherís Day. We marveled at the long-enduring celebration steeped in the early part of the last century. It predates World Wars I and II, the formation of professional football, the administrations of 17 presidents and the inventions of TV, refrigerators, home computers ó even Walmart for goodness sakes.

A month ago noted the 100th anniversary of Motherís Day. We marveled at the long-enduring celebration steeped in the early part of the last century. It predates World Wars I and II, the formation of professional football, the administrations of 17 presidents and the inventions of TV, refrigerators, home computers ó even Walmart for goodness sakes.

Suffice it to say that as an institution, Motherís Day is well established.

But Fatherís Day? Well, itís a relative babe in the woods by comparison.

While President Woodrow Wilson ushered in Motherís Day in 1914, dads didnít get their official due until decades later when President Nixon signed off on a day to recognize fathers into law. The year? 1972.

In this day and age that seems like an impossibly long period from the start of Motherís Day to the beginning of Fatherís Day.

Where was the love for dear olí dad?

As was the case for mothers, Fatherís Day was the idea of a young woman. Sonora Smart Dodd was born in Arkansas and raised by a single dad who was a Civil War veteran. In 1910, in Spokane, Wash. she began what is recognized by most as the first Fatherís Day event in a YMCA there.

But it failed to gain much traction, despite her best efforts.

Dodd pressed the case off an on for decades. At times she won some endorsement, usually by retail groups that had something gain from another national celebration. That businesses stood to profit from such an event ó especially after the raging monetary success sparked by Motherís Day ó touched off scorn and cynicism of newspapers in the 1930s. In turn, politicians kept a safe distance.

Even the backing of presidents Wilson and Coolidge couldnít sway members of Congress. U.S. Sen. Margaret Chase Smith of Maine, for one, pointed out the inconsistency of it. She noted in 1957 that her colleagues had ignored fathers for more than 40 years while motherís basked in a national glow.

In time, of course, the wisdom of recognizing the contributions of fathers became evident. While mothers nurture and protect, fathers protect and mold. By their thoughts and actions they shape the men and women their sons and daughters will eventually become. The two voices play in concert, guiding how their children handle circumstances and events; successes and failures; triumphs and tragedies.

Men who become fathers and understand that the act of making a child is the creation of a lifeís work, also realize the tasks that come with this awesome responsibility of raising a child to becoming a solid adult.

Over the past couple of decades, as more children grow up in single-parent households, the roles of fathers have been sadly overlooked or disregarded. Itís a mistake. Children need fathers as much as they do mothers.

Page 2 of 2 - So weíll continue to toast fathers each June and remember with a smile the foundations they create for us, the wisdom they supply and the occasional scolding we no doubt deserve.